Many of the technical advances in film have had as their objective to increase the realism of a motion picture film, as perceived by the viewers of that film. Color and sound films, along with the 70 mm format, were developed in the 1920s. Such nostandard systems as CinemaScope, VistaVision and Cinerama appeared in the 1950s. Today, such systems as IMAX (70 mm with fifteen perforations per frame, traveling horizontally at 24 frames per second) and SHOWSCAN (standard 70 mm film shown at 60 frames per second) provide a degree of realism not available with conventional exhibition methods, but the high cost and nonstandard equipment required of these systems currently limit their use to special venues.
Previous work by the inventor herein has added a degree of realism to motion pictures that can be shown in conventional venues, with a projector specifically designed or adapted for the purpose. Weisgerber (U.S. Pat. No. 5,627,614 (1997)) teaches the compositing of images photographed or printed at 24 frames per second, with others photographed or printed at 48 frames per second, on the same strip of motion picture film. The resulting film is projected at 48 frames per second, with the result that certain image components retain the artifacts (such is motion blur, graininess and strobescopic effects) that impart the "cinematic" look, while other image components look much more realistic to the viewer. The same invention disclosed the intercutting of highly realistic and "cinematic-looking" scenes or sequences. This method was later extended to other frame rate combinations (U.S. Pat. No. 5,793,894 (1998)).
Existing films for general release in such countries as the United States are photographed and conventionally shown at 24, frames per second. This frame rate limits the quality of presentation to the viewers of such motion pictures, due to the impartation of artifacts such as grain, image instability and flicker. Conventional exhibition of such motion picture films by projecting them at 24 frames per second through a double-bladed shutter delivers 48 image impressions (48 flashes of light) to the viewers per second, but this is not sufficient to reduce the aforementioned artifacts to the point where the viewers cannot perceive them. This is a difficultyuinherent in conventional exhibition of any existing film.
Earlier nonstandard exhibition systems attempted to reduce these artifacts, especially flicker. Cinerama, in use briefly during the late 1950s and early 1960s (films projected onto an extremely wide screen by three synchronized projectors), increased light brightness levels to enhance visual impact, but flicker remained objectionable. To reduce flicker, films were photographed and shown at 26 frames per second (52 flashes per second, since a double-bladed shutter was used), but this rendered motion pictures produced in that format incompatible with the general release format. Later Cinerama films, such as How the West Was Won and The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm were shot and presented at the conventional rate of 24 frames per second. Compatibility was increased, but so were flicker and other artifacts inherent at that frame rate. The Todd-AO system, also in limited use at the time, reduced flicker by using a rate of 30 frames Per second, but compatibility with general release formats remained a problem. Until now, the artifacts inherent in 24-fps projection could not be shown to audiences without the negative effects of these artifacts.
While the inventor's previous work disclosed the conversion of existing motion picture films to the format described, the use of his method for exhibiting such films was not fully developed. Accordingly, it is the objective of the present invention to provide a method for exhibiting existing motion picture films at a significantly higher frame rate than is conventionally in use, with the result that viewers of such films will witness a presentation that appears more realistic and produces a greater degree of visual impact than is available with conventional exhibition methods.